Vintage 1977 Soviet Book: The Festive Table – Lidiya Lemkul | Tsar to Soviet Books

Vintage 1977 Soviet Entertaining Guide: "The Festive Table" by Lidiya Lemkul

For culinary historians, food collectors, and lovers of vintage Soviet entertaining culture, this 1977 original Soviet hardcover cookbook is a classic volume on domestic hospitality. Published in Moscow by Pishchevaya Promyshlennost (Издательство «Пищевая промышленность»), The Festive Table (Праздничный стол) was authored by food specialist Lidiya Mikhailovna Lemkul.

Bound in a grey woven cloth hardcover stamped with a stylized banquet emblem and red lettering, this 360-page volume provides tested recipes, seasonal four-course dinner menus, buffet spreads, and home bar recipes.

Seasonal Banquet Menus, Savory Party Buffets & Retro Soviet Mixology Lemkul’s manual organizes holiday hosting into structured, practical categories:

• Four-Season Dinner Menus (Обеды для каждого сезона): 40 complete banquet plans for spring, summer, autumn, and winter celebrations, featuring dishes like clay-pot braised lamb kebabs, meat solyanka, cold sorrel soup, and Guriev porridge.

• The Cold Buffet & Hors d’Oeuvres (Закусочный стол): Savory appetizer cakes layered with salmon, caviar, and pâté (закусочные торты), multi-layered canapés with sprats and ham, stuffed eggs, and decorative aspic molds (заливные блюда).

• Pastries & Petit Fours (Птифуры и пирожные): Recipes for chocolate-glazed eclairs, cream-filled puff horns, almond bouchée, and fruit tartlets.

• Holiday Beverages & Cocktails (Праздничные напитки): Traditional fruit cordials (вишневка, сливянка, спотыкач), party wine punches (крюшоны with melon, pineapple, and strawberries), warm grogs, mulled wine (глинтвейн), and retro cocktail mixes.

Complete Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Праздничный стол (The Festive Table)

• Author: Lidiya Mikhailovna Lemkul (Л. М. Лемкуль)

• Illustrator: V. M. Aladyev (В. М. Аладьев)

• Publisher: "Pishchevaya Promyshlennost" Publishing House (Москва)

• Publication Date: 1977 (3rd Edition, Moscow, USSR)

• Language: Russian

• Binding: Original publisher's stamped woven cloth hardcover

• Page Count: 360 pages

• Classification: Soviet Gastronomy / Entertaining & Banquets / Vintage Cookbooks

Condition & Preservation Report

• Exterior Condition: Original woven cloth boards are clean, flat, and rigid with sharp blue and red front-board graphics and minimal corner shelf wear.

• Binding Integrity: Exceptionally firm, square, and tight text block with intact hinges.

• Page Quality: Interior pages and recipe sections are clean and unmarked, exhibiting uniform light cream age-toning typical of 1970s Soviet food industry publications. Free from marginal notation, underlining, library stamps, or owner signatures.

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